Oxford Balliol College Library MS 354 (Richard Hill's Commonplace Book)

From Seven Sages of Rome

Manuscript
Reference Number Eng4
Location Oxford, Bodleian Library
Siglum/Shelfmark Balliol College Library, Oxford MS. 354, "Richard Hill's Commonplace Book"
Page/Folio range 39-112 (xviii r - liv v)
Standardised title of narrative The Seven Sages of Rome
Incipit or textual title
Version (siglum) A (Seven Sages)
Language Group within Version Middle English Version A
Narrative/Scholarly Group within Version Y Group
Further scholarly subgroup (1) Southern English
Further scholarly subgroup (2) Text B
Translated/adapted from (Version/Text)
Source for information on textual relationship to broader tradition Brunner (1933)Whitelock (2005)
Scribe Richard Hill
Author
Place of Manuscript Production London
Date of Manuscript Production 1501 - 1533
Source of date Manuscript Production Brunner (1933)
Material Paper
Language of Manuscript English
Regional or specific Language of Manuscript Middle English
Source for regional or specific Language of Manuscript Brunner (1933)
Prose or Verse Verse
Other texts in the Manuscript 'Seven Sages', p. 39-112 (xviii r - liv v, contemporary numeration) 'Memorandum book' of Richard Hill - includes 'Godfrydus of Rome,' prose treatises on the management of horses and on grafting, The Seige of Rone, family memoranda, Anglo-French vocabularly including a bilinguial version of the Boke of Curtasie, excerpts from Confessio Amantis, songs and carols, romances (Apollonius of Tyr), etc.
Script style/form
Total pages/folios in Manuscript 248
Height 292
Width 108
Illustrations No
Digitisation https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/e0d10554-db39-4b58-a944-45da5e66248e/
Modern Editions Brunner, The Seven Sages of Rome (Southern Version) (1933)
Catalogue
Modern Research Literature Brunner (1933)Whitelock (2005)

Pattern of embedded stories in this manuscript

Short StorySequence NumberNarratorName Variations
Arbor1Empress
Canis2Bancillas
Aper3Empress
Medicus4Ancilles
Gaza5Empress
Puteus6Lentulus
Senescalcus7Empress
Tentamina8Malquidras
Virgilius9Empress
Avis10Cato
Sapientes11Empress
Vidua12JesseNot named in text - presumed 'Jesse' from analogues
Roma13Empress
Inclusa14Maxencius
Vaticinium15Prince